a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for quickly and easily protecting and hiding from sight a dumping site containing inflammable and/or bad looking waste.
The invention also relates to a method for quickly and economically limiting the damages caused by a fire in a waste dumping site.
b) Brief Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that the dumping sites used to get rid of inflammable and/or bad looking waste such as, for example, used tires, are potential not to say permanent sources of pollution and fire, and thus are environmental nuisance.
A conventional method for reducing the risk of fire and hiding the waste from sight, consists in covering the site with earth as soon as it is filled up, so as to "bury" the waste. In practice, such a covering is usually done with a bulldozer or any similar having equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,840 to FEIZOLLAHI discloses a method for the disposal of hazardous waste. In this patent, the hazardous wastes are sealed in large concrete boxes that are stacked in an interlocking manner to form an integrated monolithic structure above a barrier layer laid on the site to seal the ground surface from water passing through the structure and thus to prevent ground water contamination in the case of leaks. After stacking, the monolithic structure is sealed under the soil to allow for landscaping of the site. This is done by backfilling the structure with earth to provide for a relatively level top layer, then placing a synthetic liner over the backfill, and finally covering this liner with a thick layer of compacted clay, a layer of gravel and a layer of uncompacted fill earth.
This patent does not disclose how the sealing is carried out. However, it is obvious that the backfilling and covering steps require the use of heavy equipments right on the site, in order to bring, pour, spread and/or compact the backfill and the different layers of clay, gravel and earth.
The above method is obviously efficient to hide stacked waste-containing boxes from sight and to reduce the risk of fire hazard. However, it is rather long to carry out and cannot be used in any way if the dumping site is on fire, because it requires the use of heavy equipments on the site to complete its covering. Moreover, this known method is limited to flat surfaces or smooth slopes, because the covering layers of clay, gravel and fill earth are easily subject to erosion by rainfall or gravity.